Discord in the main ruling party in Romania
Party leaders call for the resignation of Liviu Dragnea
România Internațional, 20.09.2018, 12:48
Hardly 6 months have passed since the Social Democrats, gathered in Bucharest, answered an enthusiastic YES and erupted in applause when the supreme leader Liviu Dragnea asked them if they still wanted him to be their president. Things have dramatically changed ever since, though. Three of the vice-presidents of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), namely Deputy Prime Minister Paul Stanescu, the mayor of Bucharest Gabriela Firea and the vice-president of the Senate Adrian Tutuianu have signed a joint declaration in which they ask for Liviu Dragneas resignation from the position of president of the Social Democratic Party and that of Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies.
Liviu Dragnea, who was once praised for the success scored in the 2016 elections, when the Social Democrats almost got the majority in the legislative elections and got the mayoral seats in Bucharests all 6 sectors for the first time, is now considered the partys and the ruling coalitions main vulnerability. A legal vulnerability, on the one hand, due to the corruption cases in which he is involved. Dragneas opponents believe that his legal problems hit at the very legitimacy of the ruling coalitions and of PSDs efforts to reform the judiciary, given that their efforts are perceived as a move meant to help Liviu Drganea and his cronies.
On the other hand, the PSD leaders also blame Dragnea for ruling the party in a discretionary way, for the domestic conflicts undermining the party, which led to the ousting of two prime ministers, of whom one was dismissed through a motion of censure, and for the permanent conflict with the opposition, the President Klaus Iohannis, the Intelligence Services, the General Prosecutors Office and the National Anti-Corruption Directorate. All these things have deepened the voters distrust in the PSD, which dropped in opinion surveys despite the countrys economic advance. Adrian Tutuianu says the declaration enjoys the support of a large part of the PSD organizations.
Adrian Tutuianu: “It is a letter that draws a warning signal. We have made a public appeal to all Social Democratic MPs, to all PSD branches leaders, to PSD presidents of county councils, mayors, local and county councilors to join us in this initiative that is not based on any hidden interests. It only promotes the national and the PSD interests. Talking about the leader position now is meaningless. Well make a decision on Friday at the National Executive Committee meeting and youll find out all the details then.”
Liviu Dragneas first reaction was full of sarcasm and he promised to fight to the death for the party: “I will read through that letter. I have leafed through it and I understand that their main problem is our conflict with President Iohannis. They actually want to join hands with Iohannis, with the Intelligence Services, with the Protection and Guard Service, with the National Anti-Corruption Directorate and the opposition. I, as a party leader, cannot and will not lead this party into becoming an instrument of these institutions which should not get involved in politics. As for the PSDs National Executive Committee meeting I will have an articulate, long and emphasized discourse.”
The right-wing parties see the fighting at the top of the PSD as a settling of accounts. But they should reproach themselves the fact that the real opposition to PSD comes from within the very PSD.
(translated by Lacramioara Simion)
